Browning threatens to disincorporate over legal dispute

Officials in Browning say they will have to disincorporate the community or declare bankruptcy over an ongoing dispute with the Blackfeet Tribe about water and utility services.(Photo11: TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS)Buy Photo

KALISPELL — Officials in a small Montana town say they will have to disincorporate the community or declare bankruptcy over an ongoing dispute with the Blackfeet Tribe about water and utility services.

In a press release, the town of Browning said it was in a dire financial condition because of a legal battle with the tribe, reported the Flathead Beacon.

“The lawsuits filed by the Blackfeet Tribe, Two Medicine Water Company and certain tribal members have had the same goal: to eliminate the Town of Browning by bleeding it financially dry,” officials wrote in the press release.

There are unresolved lawsuits from both communities over ownership of the water system. There groups have been arguing for the past few years, ever since they joined forces for a multi-million dollar expansion of the system.